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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.,

JOHN D. STOTLEMEYER, OF HANCOCK, MARYLAND.

HITCHING-STRAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,107, dated December 28, 1880.

Application filed October 19, 1G80. (Model.)

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN D. SToTLEI/IEYER, of Hancock, Washington county, and State of Maryland, have invented a new and Improved Hitching-Strap, ot' which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a device designed to prevent horses, when hitched, from falling, or to assist then] in recovering` their feet when down.

The drawing represents the hitcl'ling-strap in perspective.

In the drawing, A represents the rubber strap,designed to be about at'oot long, an inch wide, and half an inch thick, having its ends enlarged, as shown at a a', and having passed through the end a, from edge to edge, a pin, b, on which is pi voted a snap-hook, C. Through the end a of said rubber strapl A, parallel with the pin b, is passed a pin, o, on which is pivoted a clevis or loop, I), to which is attached the leathern strap B, that is designed to be four or five feet long, or thereabout, though l do not confine myself to any special or relative length for either ofthe straps A B.

This bitching-strap is to be attached to the bridle or halter of a horse by means of the snap-hook O, while the end of the leathern strap B is to be made fast about a stanchion or hitching-post.

When a horse hitched with this strap rears and endeavors to recover himself when about to lose his balance and fall backward, the elasticity of the rubber strapl A will assist him in such recovery.

-Should a horsev hitched with this strap fall from any cause the elasticity of the strap A Will second his efforts to rise. Should a horse, 4

when hitched in a stable,get this strap wound around his neck, or get his foot over it and then get down, he cannot bang or injure himself in any way, by reason ofthe elasticity ot' the rubber strap.

This is the best device also for bitching a young colt when breaking him to stand hitched in a stable. When a colt is tirst hitched with a halter in a stable he tries to break the halterstrap, and it` he succeeds he will for a long time after try to break every bitching-strap put upon him; but if he is hitched with this improved strap he cannot break loose, for when rearing or pulling back the elasticity of the rubber portion ot' the strap will allow him to go back until he is about to fall on his haunches, land then he immediately stops pulling, and tries to recover himself' and get a new foothold for another pull; but as often as he does this the rubber strap will draw him to the hitching-post again, and in the same Inanner this improved strap operates to prevent horses from breaking` loose fromv bitchingposts when endeavoring to break their strap by rearing or pulling backward. Hence the use of this hitching-strap will in many instances save horses from serious injury.

l am aware that hitching-straps have been heretofore made partly of elastic material; but

What I claim as new isln an improved hitching-strap, the combination ofthe rubber strap A, having thickened or enlarged ends provided with lateral perforations, strap B, and snap-hook O, all pivot- `ally connected, substantially as shown and described.

JOHN DEVAULT STOTLEMEYER.

Witnesses:

ROBERT BRIDGES, WILLIAM H. LOWE. 

